Slacking-on the blog not on the training ; )

Well I am slacking on the blog.  Not on the training!  Not even sure if people are reading this anyway and besides, I really don’t have much to write/report on.  I feel it’s a little redundant to keep writing good job blogs! Ha  When I started this blog I kinda thought there would be a little more to report and tell about the whole “experience” with horror stories and funny stories but it really has been a piece of cake and easy as pie.  The one thing we did run into was yesterday we were out running errands nearly all day long so I didn’t really think ahead enough/plan enough on how to handle this.  Some of the youtube videos I have watched and articles I have read actually have portable potty chairs that you take with you and keep in your car (ick ?).  Not sure if I’m that dedicated/motivated to do this just yet.  And  besides, we aren’t out like this all the time and probably won’t be our like that for that long again for a while either.  She is still doing so great with the training.  Going pretty much every time we sit her on the chair still-diaper rash is gone which is a huge plus because this seemed to be a constant and always looked very painful.

T will be at a training next week so I’m going to do one more week of the number 1 training then it will be onward to number 2 training.  Wish us luck ya’ll!  : )

~abe &row

What a weekend-

The weekend went off without a hitch.  T took over most of the potty duties this weekend for a couple of reasons-1 to give me a break and 2 so he could mainly see how it works for himself.  I believe he is now completely on board with this process and whatever doubts he had has now vanished.  Saturday, Sunday and today all, every single time we sit her on the chair now, she goes almost instantly.  We almost don’t even have to make the sound anymore.  It’s like she realizes that that is what the chair is for.  She is still going in her diapers but the number of “wet” diapers she is having has decreased by a lot.  I would say she only has about 4 or so wet diapers now because we probably catch a lot of them before she has a chance to go in her diaper now.  We are probably sitting her on the potty chair 7-8 times a day.  Again, if she puts up any kind of fight or cries or whimpers in the least, we just pick her right back up because we don’t want her to be scared of it or associate it with anything negative but so far she has done great with it.  Most of the time when we sit her down, she starts to go immediately, smiling and cooing.

I’ll try to put together this week a list of the few websites I have used for “inspiration” if you will for this little journey so for anybody that stumbles upon this blog if they decide that they want to try it too, they can read a little more into it.  A couple of people have asked me “how in the world did you even come up with this idea?”  Honestly, it’s not as far out of an idea as you might think-people all over the world do it-the United States is one of the few countries that is behind (imagine that) in potty training.  I got an e-mail from one of my pregnancy list serves about a month ago that was talking about infant potty training and when I researched it further, I thought “hey, it makes sense, and why not just try it.”  I didn’t figure there was any harm in trying it.  If it didn’t work, it didn’t work and no harm done.  But like I said, for us anyways, it’s working wonders.  I also think age factor has a lot to do with this.  Many sites I’ve read say that they start doing this as soon as the kid is born!  I think this is to young.  I think right now is the perfect age to start this.  R will be 5 months old at the end of this week.  She is old enough that she is able to sit up with our help and can hold her head up very well by herself.  But she is also under the “6 month” mark that they talk about where many of the traits and habits are already “learned” so to speak.  I am now researching the best way to incorporate the number 2 potty training in this whole gamete-as right now, she is only doing number 1 in the potty so prayers appreciated with this endeavor  ha.

Officially loosing count!

Now that we have hit double digits, I have officially lost count because she has done so well with this.  She went in the potty every single time we sat her on the chair today except for one time, so I think she has officially caught on to the process.  Today, I even sat her on the potty right before a nap, she went, I laid her down for her nap and then when I got her up from her nap an hour later, she was dry.  I sat her right on the potty chair and she went right away.  People can think I am crazy all they want but I really do think this is working.  She is catching on to this super-fast-faster than I ever thought she would.  I really am amazed by this process.  T has even bought into this whole process now that he has witnessed the results with this. 

T and I were talking-I think we are going to continue like this for the next couple of weeks just to see how this goes and then I may see if I can start watching to catch her “number 2’s” and get her to do these in the potty as well.  Right now there’s no really rhyme or reason or no way for me to watch for when she needs to go. 

Thanks for checking in ya’ll.  Will probably give the blogging a break for the weekend and will pick back up on Monday : )

 

~abe & row

Almost to double digits!

Today was not as stellar as yesterday in terms of “potty” success but I would still count it as successful.  We had two successful potty trips.  One midday and then one right before bath time.  Again, I just tried sitting her on there after every diaper change.  When T got home after work, he didn’t sit her on there once (I fussed at him and told him that this would stunt our progress!).  So total now we are at 9 successful potty trips.  I think that is pretty darn good for 3 days for a baby who is not even 5 months old yet.  Honestly, this is not that hard guys.  It literally takes about 10 seconds longer for a diaper change-we have the potty chair sitting about 3 steps away from the changing table so we just pick her up and sit her on there.  If she doesn’t go after a few seconds or starts to squirm or puts up any kind of fight I just pick up right up. 

T and I were talking about this whole little experiment this evening-he has been telling a few people about what we are trying to do.  The whole purpose of this is not really to “potty train a 4 month old.”  We realize she is not going to be potty trained in like a week.  I think the whole purpose of this is to help her learn what the process is and over the next few months, as she is able to begin to communicate her needs, transition her away from her diapers.  After just 3 days of this, I am 100% convinced that this is and will be easier than trying to train a 2 or 3 year old who is already set in their ways who you have to try to bribe to not go in their diaper.  I can also report that her little bum has been rash free now I have noticed (this could just be coincidental).  Diaper usage has also decreased over the past few days already by a few so we are already saving a few diapers!  J 

 

Ok it’s a short post tonight-Grey’s Anatomy is all new tonight!  Love you all peeps!

Definitely no #fluke

So Day 2 I am pretty much convinced that this is no fluke.  First thing this morning I get her up, and I take her to the changing table to take her diaper off.  I have been pondering this-what is the first thing most people have to do in the mornings when you wake up??  Right-you have to go to the bathroom!  So I take her diaper off and set her right on the potty chair, make the “psssss” sound and boom, she starts to go!  So if you are skeptic about trying infant potty training or considering trying it, this might be a good place/time to start with a little one because it seemed to work well for her and it’s pretty easy to do and usually a convienient time to try it.  Some people will say they don’t try to potty train their kids because they don’t have time or are busy or whatever (i.e. busy in the evenings after work or whatever).  This is a super easy way to start off the process.

Instead of trying to set her on the chair every 15 minutes or so today, I tried to set her on the chair after every diaper change today to see how that went since it’s sort of a learning process to see which works better.  After our first diaper change this morning, I sat her back on the chair, made the sound again and she peed again.  I am now a believer in early infant potty training!!  haha

I sat her on the chair after every diaper change and she peed in the chair 5 times today.  Nearly every time I changed her today she peed in the potty.  So total, we have been at this for almost 36 hours and she has peed in the potty 7 times total. 

I am not going to lie, I am even quite amazed myself!  When I asked T last night if he thought this would work, on a scale of one to ten, with one being not a chance it working at all, he said he would have gave it about a two (I’m making him say he is sorry now!! haha).  Lots of people have asked questions about this now-yes we are STILL keeping her in regular throw away diapers and yes she still goes in these and I expect her to for quite a while longer.  From the research I have done about this, she probably won’t be fully “trained” until she is closer to a year but everything that we are doing now will hopefully make the overall process easier.  I’ve also been working with her on baby sign language-not just making the sign for “potty” but other basic signs like “mommy” “daddy” “milk” & “eat.”  She can’t sign back yet but her little mind is like a sponge so I think she’s retaining some of this : )

Thanks for dropping in ya’ll!

~abe & row

#Fluke or #Babygenuis ?

So Day 1-right out the gate, I have success to report!!  This morning, we got up and had breakfast and training started promptly at 9AM! :) I read on one of the blogs that it works best the first few days if you are really consistent and persistent about it and simply sit your baby on the potty every 15 minutes or so.  As I said, we started at 9.  I made the baby signlanguage sign for potty and made the “pssss” sound like I read but nothing happened.  15 minutes later we tried again and had success!!!  Fluke or baby genius???  No joke-she peed in the potty on the second time!  Poor little thing, I think I might have scared her because I started screaming in excitement haha.  Pay dog was also quite intrigued by all the commotion going on as well.  I read somewhere that you are supposed to say “good potty” instead of “good job” so she will keep hearing the word “potty” and associating it so after I calmed down a bit I repeated that several times to her.

Of course I took photographic evidence of the pee in the potty and texted it to all the skeptics!  In the words of my dear friend Maggie, #hatersgonnahate!  Haha  We tried every 15 minutes until about 10:30 and then I could tell she was getting a little annoyed/restless.  So I gave her a break and let her be in her mamaroo for an hour or so to watch some Mickey.  When T came home for lunch around 11:45, we tried again (that way if she did it again I would have a witness this time! Ha).  No go this time and of course her diaper was wet from being in her mamaroo watching Mickey.  I’m charting all this and going to try to get a better idea over the next week or so what her patterns are so that might make it a little easier to help with this.  Some of the blogs say to not keep a diaper on them but I’m keeping one on her for now…I’m not that brave…yet  ;)

We didn’t do any training in the afternoon, mainly because she naps all afternoon and is a little grumpy butt.   I also read that a lot of times you can get them used to going in the potty right before bath time too so I told T we were going to try this.  He was skeptic.  After we got her undressed, I held her on the potty chair, made the “psssss” sound for just a few seconds and Viola!  Pee  numero dos of the day!!!  I thought Todd was going to fall over but at least he somewhat believes this is possible now!  Of course maybe both of these times were just flukes? Or maybe we have a baby genius on our hands? Or maybe just what I read and the videos that I watched really are just the honest to goodness truth that babies naturally know how to use the bathroom appropriately and going to the bathroom in diapers is a learned trait?  Fingers crossed day 2 is as successful as day 1!  Hopefully I’m providing you all with a little daily entertainment-thanks for dropping by to read  :)

 

 ~abe & row

My first blog!! :)

So this is my first blog ever.  Never did I think I would be that “person” or that “mom” who would go to that level, yet here I am.  Blogging!  And what’s even crazier is the reason I’m blogging.  And I’m not blogging because I have a major opinion on something (I have lots of those) or anything like that but I have this crazy idea of something I want to try with my 4, almost 5 month old daughter.  Most people that read this will probably say I’m crazy because almost everybody who I have told my idea to have said I am crazy (my husband included!) but I want to try infant potty training with her!  Most have said “doesn’t she have to be able to walk/talk/etc?”  I have been pinteresting and reading about it and watching youtube videos about it and I really think that it can work without her walking/talking yet!  I want to try to do this for several reasons:

1. The first and main reason being is cleanliness and health.  Babies get rashes all the time.  My little girl is no exception.  It does not matter if we change her diaper immediately or if we load her up with the best diaper cream out there, her little bum always seems to have a rash.  It looks painful and I am sure it’s not comfortable for her.  By doing infant potty training, she will not be using her diaper and therefore, not having a rash on her which will make for a happier baby and a happier mommy.
2. Money of course!!! Not going to lie this is a huge motivator for infant potty training.  On average, we are using about 10 diapers/day.  Amazon’s current rate for a box of Swaddlers in Size 3 is $0.27/diaper which works out to $2.70/day or $18.90/week or $75.60/month or $982.80/YEAR.  That’s suggesting we keep up with the 10 diaper per day average (some days it’s more, some days (rarely) it’s less).  So that is approximately $1,000 per year.  Many kids are not potty trained until they are almost 3!  That could be close to $3,000 that we could be putting towards her college education.  And I think that’s on the conservative end!
3. It’s actually EASIER to train a baby.  Think about it.  By the time a kid is 2 or 3, they are already “diaper” trained, in a sense.  They have already “learned” to go to the bathroom in their diaper.  I have seen several friends and family members beg, plead, bargain and barter with their toddlers to try to get them to “pee pee in the potty.”  Everything from candy to paying a small fortune in money to get them to use the toilet!  With a baby, you don’t worry about that.  You still have to do the “training” phase and it takes just as long and you still have accidents but you don’t worry with the resistance and the bargaining and negotiating that you will face with toddlers.  It actually seems pretty basic.  You really teach them a baby sign language sign for potty-teach them to associate the sign and make a sound while they sit on the potty.  Eventually they understand what they are supposed to be doing.  Babies brains are like sponges and they pick things up super fast.  My goal is to be very vigilant and consistent with this in hopes that she will pick it up and learn quickly.  If we are even able to be semi potty trained by the summer and cut diaper usage in half, I would consider that a huge victory.

I plan to start this journey this week!  I have read that you get the best results if you start before your child is 6 months old and we are well within the window (she will be 5 months old in 2 weeks!) so I think we are going to see great results.  I will be blogging and keeping you all updated as we go along so I appreciate all the support :)

~abe&row